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(N Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 1. J. B. SGHUMAN PNEUMATIU BLEVATOR. No. 603,925. Patented May 10,1898.

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(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 24 J. B. SGHUMAN PNBUMATIG ELEVATOR.

No. 603,925. Patented May 10, 1898.r

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(No Model.) 3 Sheets- Sheet 3.

J. B. SGHUMAN PNEUMATIG ELEVATOR.

Patented May 10,1898.

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'ra-*ras .I AMES B. SOIIUMAN, OF COLUMBIA, INDIANA, ASSIGNOR TO THE PNEUMATIO ELEVATOR AND WEIGHER COMPANY, OF INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA.

PN Eu MATIC ELEVATOR.

sPncIrIcATIoN forming part ef LettersA Patent No. 6043,925, netted Mey Io, 189s. Application filed October 7, 1897.v Serial No. 654,453. (No model.) v

T0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES B. SCHUMAN, a citizen of the United States, residingat Oolumbia city, in the county of Whitley and State of Indiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Pneumatic Elevators, of which the following is a specilication.

My said invention relates principally to apparatus for elevating and Weighing grain and such like matter. It is illustrated in connection with a threshing-machine,being arranged to receive the grain as it comes from said threshing-machine as threshed, elevate it to a suitable height, and, generally after it passes through a weigher,`conv`ey it away to sacks or wherever may be desired. y

The principal object of said invention is to produce a simple, inexpensive, and efficient apparatus whereby an air-blast can be applied to the elevating of grain, but of course adapted to the work of elevating other materials of various kinds, especially those of a granular character.

Said invention will be first fully described, and the novel features thereof then pointed out in the claims. y

Referring to the accompanying drawings, which are `made apart hereof and on which similar letters and numerals of reference indicate similar parts, Figure V1 is a perspective view ofa threshing-machine provided with an elevator embodying my saidinvention, a Weigher being also embodied in the apparatus shown; Fig. 2, a detached front elevation of said elevator and weigher separately on an enlarged scale; Fig. 3, a side or edge elevation of the same; Fig. 4, a vertical sectional View of the upper portion of the elevator and the attached weigher; Fig. 5, a central vertical sectional view of the lower end of theV elevator on the dotted line 5 5 in Fig. 6, and Fig. 6 a sectional view as seen from the dotted line 6 6 in Fig.5. H r' The threshing-machine, as will be readily understood, is shown merely for purposes of illustration and may be of any usual or desired character. Not being peculiar to my present invention, it will not be further described herein except incidentally in describing said invention.

In the drawings the portions marked A represent the elevator-boot or lower portion of the elevator-casing, the same being in the form of a'duplex wheel-receptacle; B, the trunk thereto; O, the casing to the head; D, a delivery spout or tube; E, the weigher-receptacle; F, a conduit leading therefrom, and G a register or indicator.

The boot A, as above stated, is in form a duplex wheel-receptacle and includes two substantially cylindrical cases, within one of which is the delivery-wheel A and within the other of which is the blast-fan A2, as best shown in Fig. 5, both of which are revolved in the same direction and 'preferably by a belt l, running from a pulley on the threshingmachine to the pulleys 2 and 3, respectively, as shown in Figs. l and 2.A Thedelivery-'wheel A', as shown in Figs. 5 and 6, is composed of a solid plate p on one side, a corresponding platep, having a central opening, on the other side, and a seriesof wings w, fastened between said two plates and radiating from the opening in the center to the periphery of the wheel.

Said wings, as shown in Fig. 5, are preferably curved, with the concaved sides to the front. Secured to the boot A is an ingress-spout A3,which'eXtends into the opening through the open-sided side plate` jp of the deliverywheel, so that theV grain or other material coming from the threshing-machine or elsewhere and falling into this spout or tube A3 from'the delivery-spout S on said machine will pass into said delivery-wheelat the center, falling thence toward the periphery thereof, then being by saidwheel thrown up the discharge-passage inthe boot, and being thus projected into the blast of air from the blastfan A2," as will be readily understood by an examination especially of Fig. 5 of the draw-` ings. The inner end of the spout A3 is preferably tubular in form and passes through and substantially fills the central opening in thev plate p', It is shown as integral with the side of the boot A. The blast-fan A2 is or may be of an ordinary and well-known form and needs no special description. As shown, it is arranged above the delivery-wheel, and its discharge-orice is so positioned that the blast therefrom unites with the blast and material from the delivery wheel, as will be IOO readily understood. I have found this arrangement to be of great advantage, as the blast-fan is at all times entirely free from the grain or other material being elevated, so that it is enabled to deliver` the blast of air uninterfered with by the iiow of such material and uninluenced by any Variations in said flow. By thus combining a deliverywheel and a blast-fan I am also enabled, in addition to other advantages, to run the delivery-wheel at a much lower speed than is required for the blast-fan, so that the effect upon grain is less harmful. Blast-fans, as is well known, must run usually at a very high speed, and if grain were delivered directly thereto the effect would be to break and cut the same, thus im pairing its value. With my peculiarly-constiucted delivery or throwing wheel running, as it does, at a comparatively slow speed these ill effects are entirely obviated.

In order to secure a perfect working of the machine, it is necessary that the flow of material shall not begin until asuitable pressure has been produced by the blast-fan in the elevator-tube, and it is also desirable that the inflow of material shall be properly proportioned to the-strength of blast. I have provided for these conditions by placing a windgate 4 in the upper end of the boot A and connecting the arm or handle 5 thereon, by

means of a link 6, with a suitable arm 7 on a gate 8. This gate-arm carries an adjustable weight 9, and the link 6 is also adapted to be connected thereto at various points, as indicated in Fig. 2, so that the proportion of force of blast to the weight to be overcome may be Varied, as desired. The operation of this apparatus is as follows: Normally the gate is closed and the damper is also closed. Vhen the machine is started, the airblast as it gathers headway raisesthe damper and thus raises the gate, so that when the blast reaches its full force the gate is fully opened, while until it reaches a sufficient force to properly raise the material the inflow of said material is prevented or retarded. As the machine stops or when for any other reason the blast decreases the gate will correspondingly close, so that the amount of material to be handled is at all times proportioned to the force of the blast.

The tubey B is aplain conveyer-tube and is preferably cylindrical in form. the upper end of this tube serves as a separator and consists of a conical shell C, Haring out from the upper end of the tube B and containing an interior inverted cone C', of more abrupt pitch, by which the blast of air and the grain or similar material carried thereby are separated and driven tothe top near 'the periphery. As shown in Fig. 4, this relative form gives substantially the same cross-sectional area of intervening space near the lower ends of the cones, where they are smaller in diameter,as at the upper end,where they are greater in diameter, so that the blast The head on of air is substantially the same throughout the tube and the head until it reaches the extreme top. Secured to the upper end of the' outer cone C is a curved head-piece or deflector O2, which extends over its upper edge and to within the inner cone C. It has an open space in the center for the escape of air, and its inner edge e may be formed of wire-netting, as shown, so that a portion of the air can escape therethrough. This deflector C2 is adjustably mounted, its edges being provided with slots through which bolts c2 pass. By this means the lower end of said deiiector may be adjusted to a greater or less depth within said inverted cone C and the escape of any of the material with the air thus guarded against, according to its weight and conditions. Within the inner cone C is a floor-plate c', the lower end of which enters the delivery-spout D. The operation is that the blast of air and the grain rise through the tube B and between the cones C and C and come in contact with the curved head-piece C2, by which the grain is curved over and deflected and thrown to within the inner cone C and falls on the floorpiece c', whence it runs by its own gravity down the spout D. The air meanwhile escapes through the central opening in the deflector C2, partially through the wire-netting edge c thereof, where such edge is used.

The delivery-spout D passes from the interior cone C to a suitable point, where it discharges into the weigher-receptacle, where a IOO Weigher is used, or into any other suitable'reno air-pressure shall reach the weigher-receptacle wire-netting or similar reticulated por-- tions CZ may be provided in this pipe. The pipe'terminates in a cap D, which is seated and adapted to revolve in a circular seat in the weigher-frame, as shown in Fig. 4.

The weigher-receptacle E will not be particularly described, as it forms no part of the invention of the present application. It is illustrated here, however, to show its relation to the other parts, and particularly to show how it is interposed between the delivery spout or tube D, leading from the separatinghead of the elevator, and the conduit F, which leads thence to such point as it is desired to convey the grain before it is discharged. As will be readily understood, the Weigher might be omitted so far as the present invention is concerned, in which ease the conduit F would be coupled directly onto the spout D.

The conduit F, as above stated, leads from the weigher or from the spout D to such point as it is desired to finally discharge the grain from the apparatus. I have shown in the present case a construction wherein it is designed to bag the grain. In thisV case the lower end of the spout terminates in two branches F' F2, each of which is capable of having the mouth of a grain-bag attached thereto, and a gate F3 is located within the tube at the place where it is so forked by IIO which the flow of grain can be shifted from one branch to the other, and said gate is manipulated in an ordinary and well known manner by means of its shaft or handle f3.

The register G is of course only used where the weigher is employed, and is merely shown in the present case for the purpose of illustrating a complete apparatus as ordinarily employed.

Having thus fully described my said invention, what I claim as new, and desire to securet by Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination, in a pneumatic elevator, of a tube through which the material to be elevated is to pass, a duplex wheel-receptacle at the lower end of said tube arranged to receive two revolving devices, a deliverywheel mounted in the lower wheel-receptacle and adapted to throw the material up said tube, and a blast-fan mounted in the upper wheelreceptacle and communicating with said tube above the point where the material is discharged thereinto.

2. The combination of atube, a boot containing two wheelreceptacles, a material throwing or delivery wheel in one receptacle, said wheel consisting of suitable supporting sides and throwing-wings between said sides and formed with an open center into which the material may pass and thus be admitted centrally to said wheel, and a blast-fan located in the other wheel-receptacle and adapted to supply an additional current of air and accelerate the movement of the material being elevated.

3. rl`he combination, of an elevating-tube, a boot containing the elevating and' blast wheels, a spout for leading the material to the elevating-wheel, a gate to said spout for controlling the ow of material, a wind gate mounted in the elevating-tube, and a connection between said wind-gate and said spoutgate, whereby the flow of material is governed in proportion to the speed of the blast apparatus and force of the blast, substantially as set forth.

4C. The combination, in an elevator, of the blast apparatus, including the boot, the delivery-wheel, and the blast-fan, an elevatingspout, a flaring head on the upper end of said spout, an inverted cone within said iaring head, and a deflector secured to said flaring head and curved over the edges of said inverted cone, substantially as set forth.

flaring head on the upper end of said spout,

an inverted cone within said head, an annular opening being left between the two, a deflector extending above said opening and over and down into said inverted cone, the floorplate and discharge-spout leading therefrom through the side of said inverted cone, substantially as set forth.

6. The combination in an elevator, of the blast apparatus, the elevator-tube provided with a flaring upper end, an inverted cone within said flaring end, there being a discharge-space between the two, and a deflector covering said space and curved down within said inverted cone,said deflector being mounted to be adjusted to extend different distances within said cone, substantially as set forth.

7. The combination, in an elevating and weighing apparatus, of the elevator-tube, the blast apparatus connecting with the lower part of said tube, a separating-head on the upper end of said tube, a weigher the receptacle whereof is positioned adjacent to said separating head, and a tube whereby the heavier material is conveyed from said separating-head to said weigher-receptacle, the upper portion of said tube being perforated or reticulated, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

8. The combination, in an elevating and weighing apparatus, of a pneumatic elevatortube, a boot at the lower end thereof containing a grain-delivering and blast apparatus, a separating-head at the upper end thereof whereby the grain is separated from the dust and air, a weigher positioned suitably in respect to said separating-head, and a conveyerspout for conveying the separated grain from said separating-head to the receptacle of said weigher, the upper portion of which is provided with air-escape openings, said several parts being arranged and operating substantial-ly as set forth.

In witness whereof l have hereunto set my IOC hand and seal, at Indianapolis, Indiana, this lst day of October, A. D. 1897.

JAMEs B. sci-IUMAN. [1.. s]

Witnesses:

CHESTER BRADFORD, JAMES A. WALSH. 

